Peru is the latest country to approve marijuana for medicinal purposes. Bipartisan efforts from the Tania Pariona and Alberto de Belaunde parties joined together to introduce the medical marijuana bill. The bill calls to decriminalize the use of marijuana and its derivative products – such as CBD – for medicinal uses.
The bill, which passed with overwhelming support (67 – 5 – 3), will also allow for the creation of a commercialized medical marijuana industry, according to InSerbia Today. It is planned to be signed into law this week by Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
Peru’s health ministry will begin creating registries once the bill is signed. The country will be creating individual registries for every sector of the industry so that confusion is reduced, and the regulatory process is easier. For instance, an approved patient list along with patients’ qualifying medical conditions will be included as one registry, and doctors and dispensaries will be part of separate registries.
De Belaunde said, “Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay already have some sort of regulation of medical cannabis on their legal books, not to mention so do many European countries, Australia, Canada and [more than] 20 states in the United States.”
It is estimated that roughly 100,000 people in Peru already use marijuana illegally. This legalization effort will help create proper framework for regulation. Recreational marijuana is not being discussed in Peru at the moment.
De Belaunde also said, “The cannabis that is consumed for recreational uses has a much higher THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient) content than the medical cannabis, which is consumed through oil, ointments and edible derivatives as opposed to being smoked.”
Peru plans to carefully regulate the types of products, as well as potencies of medical marijuana in its program.